CAREER OPTIONS

Southern Metropolis Weekly

June 27, 2011

In China, the most favorable career option for university graduates is to work in government departments, state-owned enterprises and public institutions, where people have access to administrative power and gain benefits through state-owned assets.

In this issue, the magazine introduces two people's close ties with these fields in the early 1990s and 2011 respectively, through their experience in career life and in the process of job-hunting. Experts believe people choose these careers because these organizations stand for power, prestige and steady and substantial income. These advantages are brought by increasing administrative expenses with the premise that the bigger the organization, the more power and benefits officials gain.

However, if more talented employees choose to work in such fields, the pace of economic development will slow down and even stop, as this workforce will turn the administrative power they own to personal financial benefits instead of focusing on creating economic benefits for society.  

HIGH TOLL FEES

China Newsweek

July 11, 2011

The public currently harshly criticizes high toll fees on Chinese expressways as it helps promote price hikes. In this issue, China Newsweek reviews the history of toll roads, and analyzes reasons for unreasonable high toll fees and solutions to root out the problem. Local governments are both responsible for and big beneficiaries of collecting toll fees, making them reluctant to effectively solve the problem. Complicating matters is the shortage of central and local governments' subsidies for highway construction. The solution to the problem is to allow the public to share in the profits of toll roads. To solve the funding shortfall, the World Bank has suggested expanding the collection of fuel tax, or investing the revenue obtained from roads in developed provinces to construct those non-profit roads or those in less developed provinces.

CHARITY IN DISREPUTE

Sanlian Life Weekly

July 11, 2011

Recently, a young woman, who called herself "Guo Meimei Baby" and claimed to be the general manager of a company named Red Cross Commerce, showed off her extravagant lifestyle on her microblog. Her flaunting aroused the public's suspicion of the legality of the company, and the credibility of Red Cross Society of China.

In this issue, Sanlian Life Weekly reviews the whole process of the Guo Meimei case and explains the identity of Red Cross Commerce. According to Wang Rupeng, a spokesman of the Red Cross Society of China, the company is considered as one of the Red Cross Society's chapters launched 10 years ago with the purpose of raising public awareness on humanitarian and charitable activities in the business sector. The review explains that the Red Cross Society lends its credibility to Red Cross Commerce to enable fund raising charitable promotions. The magazine says the relationship between charitable credibility and commercial interests is one in which both sides are losers.

UNIVERSITY RECRUITMENT

Beijing Youth Daily  

July 3, 2011

Hong Kong's universities are continuing their attractive scholarship policy to compete with prestigious universities on the mainland for outstanding high-school graduates this summer. It is reported 17 star pupils of this year's college entrance examination in China's mainland have chosen universities in Hong Kong.

How can Hong Kong attract so many top students from the mainland? In short, there are two reasons. First, Hong Kong universities offer incomparable scholarships to the best students; second, Hong Kong has an open international education environment, which helps students develop better career qualities and abilities. The globalization of education is now challenging China's higher education. Chinese mainland universities must try to improve their educational concepts and systems to catch up with leading international education institutions.

TRAIN MALFUNCTIONS

People's Daily

July 13, 2011

The start of Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail link has been an exciting topic for discussion in China. People cherish high expectations of safety, comfort and environmental protection on this rail link. However, since its formal operation begun on June 30, stormy weather and a malfunction in power supply facilities have twice delayed some trains on July 10 and 12.

China's high-speed rail link is now the longest in the world, but high speed alone on the line is not enough. There are still a lot of problems waiting to be solved, like instantly coping with emergencies related to extreme weather and ensuring the safety of its technical equipment. It seems that the service, security and managerial work of our high-speed trains lag behind the speed. How to develop the railway into a comfortable and safe travel line is a matter of urgency facing China's advanced high-speed railway.

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